Awards and Volunteer Recognition Committees
These committees are responsible for soliciting and judging entries to the annual planning awards and volunteer recognition awards program. These awards celebrate the work of our members and stand as tribute to the excellent contributions their work makes to the field of planning.
Planning Awards Committee
Kellie Lau RPP - Chair
Bart Carswell RPP
Isela Contreras RPP
Vicki Dodge RPP
Jordan Furness RPP
Volunteer Recognition Awards Committee
Josephine Duquette RPP - Chair
Nancy Hackett RPP
Dale Frietag RPP
Stephanie Mah RPP
Student Awards and Inspiration Grant Committee
Sarah Ramey RPP - Chair
Dana Bao RPP
Gary Buchanan RPP
Jordan Furness RPP
Lilit Houlder RPP
Nicholas Kuhl RPP
Kristina Schmidt RPP
Event Committees
These committees function to offer networking and educational opportunities to our members, largely in the form of luncheon presentations on issues that are both timely and relevant to the practice of planning. They generally offer a series of events to each local planning community over the course of the fall/winter/spring. Opportunities for involvement in these committees always exist – either as a part of the organizing team or as one of the informed speakers they tend to attract.
Calgary Events Committee
Nicholas Kuhl RPP - Chair
Sydney Bailey RPP
Hailey Bloom RPP
Aaron Bomback RPP
Keith Holmes RPP
Katie Lobban RPP
Jordan Zukowski RPP
Reza Asadi
Ethan Chow
Mehar Imran
Ivan Osorio Avila
Edmonton Events Committee
Lisa Drury RPP - Chair
Christine Lee RPP
Victoria Pham RPP
Connor Smith RPP
Jennifer Smyth RPP
Taylor Varro RPP
Stephen Yu RPP
Roan Deighton
Ross Zimmerman
Central Events Committee
Jolene Tejkl RPP
Sarah Mitchell
Northern Events Committee
Chris Hewitt RPP
Margaret Kralt RPP
Amanda-Brea Watson RPP
Vivian Peng RPP
South Events Committee
Tyson Boylan RPP
Spencer Croil RPP
Conference Organizing Committee
On an annual basis, this committee administers the APPI Planning Conference. The work involved is varied and challenging as this committee is responsible for all facets of a successful conference – program definition, speaker selection, sponsor contributions and marketing.
2026 Conference Committee
Dino Civitarese RPP - Co-Chair
Misty Sklar RPP - Co-Chair
Nicklas Baran RPP
Allison Chan RPP
Andrew Chell RPP
Rafal Cichowlas RPP
Rachel Smigelski RPP
Claire Woodside RPP
Stephen Yu RPP
Nilendu Bala
Ethan Chow
Simran Chowdhary
Yousaf Shah
Jiayi Wang
History and Archive Curator
Erik Backstrom RPP
Legislative Review Committee
Erik Backstrom RPP - Chair
Victoria Brown RPP
Bruce Duncan RPP
Mac Hickley RPP
Misty Sklar RPP
Nominating Committee
Appointed each year for the purposes of recruiting members to serve on Council for the upcoming Council term, membership on this committee is approved by Council each fall and the Committee’s work terminates in the spring with the announcement of the slate of candidates for the upcoming election.
Shawn Bravender RPP - Chair
Dnyanesh Deshpande RPP
Kate Van Fraassen RPP
PLAN North West Editorial Board
PLAN North West is the official publication of the Alberta Professional Planners Institute (APPI), Manitoba Professional Planners Institute (MPPI) and Saskatchewan Professional Planners Institute (SPPI). PLAN North West offers opportunities for publication of original works that are both community-based and research oriented, and relevant to Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Northwest Territories.
Ariel Lupu RPP
Fabio Coppola RPP
Miles Dibble RPP
Perry Stein, RPP
Robyn Rechenmacher
Member Experience Committee
Nabil Malik RPP - Chair
Isela Contreras-Dogbe RPP
Neal Greywall RPP
Sue Holdsworth RPP
Sarah Peck RPP
Sanchari Quader RPP
Peter Scholz RPP
Imai Welch RPP
Nicole Cronkhite
Martina MacFarlane